An extensive inventory resulted in a pre-selection of three manufacturers, including Alcons. These brands were invited to demonstrate their system during a special demo event. Luxor had chosen for a unique approach for this day. Not only the in-house Luxor technicians but also several famous Dutch sound designers and engineers, familiar with the Luxor Theatre, were invited to give their opinion. Also present were some other employees of the Luxor Theatre which were asked to fill out a large questionnaire concerning the three demo systems.
The Luxor Theatre eventually selected a main audio system by Alcons using three (LCR) clusters comprising 12 line-array units each. The hall of Luxor is high and features two balconies. Imaging-wise, addressing the complete hall using these three clusters is not a good option. The first rows until the cross path in the middle of the ground floor are therefore addressed by two small clusters of four LR16 line-array cabinets each. The takeover area between these small clusters and the main clusters is just in the middle of this centre path and therefore offers no problems.
The complete five cluster system comprises 32 LR16 and 12 LR14 line-array cabinets. The front rows, just in front of the main stage, are addressed by two additional VR12 loudspeakers. There are also four small SR9 infill speakers for two problem areas underneath the balconies on the left and right hand side. The low frequencies are supplied by four BF362i subwoofer cabinets.
The project was carried out by Peter Kaandorp of Dutch installer Sinus Pro BV from Hoofddorp. The amplifier racks are located on the left and right hand side of the stage and were constructed by ISO-Audio from Amsterdam.
The Alcons ALC-amplifiers (a total of 19 units) are driven by two Dolby Lake processors, where all data port outputs of the amplifiers are integrated within a network using QSControl Amplifier Network Monitor. All amplifiers can be monitored from one computer using this system, so cable or loudspeaker defects can be detected instantaneously.
The new Luxor Theatre is very satisfied with their new system, which has now been in operation for about six months, and hope visiting companies will use this new Alcons system during future performances.
(Lee Baldock)
